Thursday, August 13, 2009

Additional Galas and Films

More films were announced by the festival today.

Galas include:

  • Agora, from Alejandro AmenĂ¡bar, starring Rachel Weisz (who was at the festival last year with The Brothers Bloom), as Hypatia of Alexandria, an astronomer, mathematician, and philosopher, who is desired by two men; Orestes (Oscar Isaac) and Hypatia's slave Davus (Max Minghella).
  • Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky, from Jan Kounen, about the rumoured relationship between composer Stravinsky (palyed by Mads Mikkelsen) and fashion designer Coco Chanel (Anna Mouglalis).
  • I, Don Giovanni, from Carlos Saura, about Lorenzo da Ponte, a librettist and poet who knew Casanova and worked with Mozart and Salieri.
  • Love and Other Impossible Pursuits, from Don Roos, based on the novel of the same name by Ayelet Waldman, with Natalie Portman as a new law school grad struggling to deal with her marriage to her boss, a new stepson, her estranged father, and her husband's ex-wife (Lisa Kudrow).
  • The Men Who Stare at Goats, from Grant Heslov, starring Ewan McGregor as a reporter who meets a man (George Clooney) supposedly part of a secret military unit based on psychic powers, led by Jeff Bridges.
  • Mother and Child, from Rodrigo Garcia, about the bond between mother and child, starring Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, and Kerry Washington, along with Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Cherry Jones, and S. Epatha Merkerson.
  • Phantom Pain, from Matthias Emcke, about a slacker whose life changes after an accident.

Additional films were announced for the Special Presentations programme:

  • Baaria, from Giuseppe Tornatore (Cinema Paradiso, Malena), follows Peppino Torrenuova (Francesco Scianna) through the course of his life in a small Sicilian town.
  • L'Affaire Farewell, from Christian Carion, about a KGB colonel who turns from his country and offers key information to France, hastening the demise of the USSR.
  • The Joneses, from Derrick Borte, with Demi Moore and David Duchovny as a married couple who move to the suburbs and soon become the envy of their neighbours.
  • Les Derniers Jours du Monde, from Arnaud Larrieu and Jean-Marie Larrieu, starring Mathieu Amalric (who has been at the festival before in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - http://tifftalk.blogspot.com/2007/09/le-scaphandre-et-le-papillon-diving.html) as a man searching for his lost love while the rest of the planet awaits the end from an approaching global apocalypse.
  • My Son, My Son, What Have Ye Done, from Werner Herzog (who also has Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans screening at the festival this year), looking at the motivations behind an actor, starring in a Greek tragedy, who decides to commit the crime in the play for real.
  • The Road, from John Hillcoat, based on the post-apocalyptic novel by Cormac McCarthy, with Viggo Mortensen as man travelling the wastes with his young son (Kodi Smit- McPhee), in a desperate struggle to stay alive in a brutal world. With Charlize Theron, Robert Duvall and Guy Pearce.
  • Road, Movie, from Dev Benegal, about a man who forsakes the family hair oil business in order to travel from town-to-town showing movies.
  • A Single Man, from Tom Ford, follows a college professor (Colin Firth) over the course of a day, while he copes with the death of his long-time partner (Matthew Goode). Also stars Julianne Moore. Firth also has Dorian Gray at the festival this year.
  • The Traveller, from Ahmed Maher, follows the life of a man from youth to old age, with Omar Sharif.
  • The Waiting City, from Claire McCarthy, about a couple (Radha Mitchell, Joel Edgerton) whose marriage is tested as they wait in India for the finalization of their adoption of a baby.
  • Wheat, from He Ping, about two soliders from a foreign land who arrive in the enemy kingdom where all the men have left to go to war, and soon convince all the women of the victory of their absent menfolk.
  • Youth in Revolt, from Miguel Arteta, with Michael Cera as a boy out to win the heart of a girl (Portia Doubleday), based on the novel by C.D. Payne, with Steve Buscemi, Ray Liotta, Justin Long, Jean Smart, Ari Graynor, Fred Willard, Zach Galifianakis and Mary Kay Place.

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My experiences at the Toronto International Film Festival. Note this blog is not affiliated with the Toronto International Film Festival Group or the festival itself.
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